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06 Dec 2007, 19:39

Does anyone here know anything about the University of St. Gallen? It seems to be a new full time program but a very well establish University. I wonder how recruiting would be there if you don't speak German. Any thoughts are appreciated.

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06 Dec 2007, 20:31

1

I have researched a lot about St.Gallen and yes its a wonderful program and its reputation in German speaking countries is very good. I spoke to their representatives during the MBA fair and was very impressed. I have also spoken to few Alumni and all that i have got is positive feedback. However one thing where this program suffers is rankings. I think it will take some time for this program to get into global rankings.

Regardign placements , yes i think you need to speak German to be competitive enough. If you are willing to learn German and want to work in German speaking countries, then this program is the best bet.

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09 Dec 2007, 12:23

trahul4 wrote:

Regardign placements , yes i think you need to speak German to be competitive enough. If you are willing to learn German and want to work in German speaking countries, then this program is the best bet.

I completely agree with you here. The website does mention that German classes are available so I will have to take advantage of those. I'm not sure how feasible it is to get a grasp of basic German within a year especially while doing the normal MBA work. Hopefully recruiting companies will be willing to invest in me and send me to intensive learning courses.

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10 Dec 2007, 00:57

casbroker wrote:

trahul4 wrote:

Regardign placements , yes i think you need to speak German to be competitive enough. If you are willing to learn German and want to work in German speaking countries, then this program is the best bet.

I completely agree with you here. The website does mention that German classes are available so I will have to take advantage of those. I'm not sure how feasible it is to get a grasp of basic German within a year especially while doing the normal MBA work. Hopefully recruiting companies will be willing to invest in me and send me to intensive learning courses.

Why can't you start learning German now? I think if you start now you should be at intermediate level when the classes start in sept 2008.. You still have another 6-8 months !!

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10 Dec 2007, 05:03

casbroker wrote:

Does anyone here know anything about the University of St. Gallen? It seems to be a new full time program but a very well establish University. I wonder how recruiting would be there if you don't speak German. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Hello Casbroker!

HSG St. Gallen (Swiss Federal Institute of St. Gallen) is one of the most respected Universities in Central Europe, maybe comparable to London School of Economics. However, as you mentioned, its MBA programme is quite new and not yet renowned or ranked. Although this MBA programme is quite affordable and strong, it is still lacking its brand name.

Regarding the language I would not worry too much about German, if you wish to work in Switzerland. Switzerland has four different official languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh). Usually English is the official language in corporate companies such as Novartis, UBS, Crédit Suisse.

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10 Dec 2007, 10:11

If I get in I'll definitely start to take German classes (I will look into them starting in January). It never hurts to have another language under your belt! Good luck with your application - PM me if you want to bounce any ideas off me.

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10 Dec 2007, 18:38

catgmat wrote:

casbroker wrote:

Does anyone here know anything about the University of St. Gallen? It seems to be a new full time program but a very well establish University. I wonder how recruiting would be there if you don't speak German. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Hello Casbroker!

HSG St. Gallen (Swiss Federal Institute of St. Gallen) is one of the most respected Universities in Central Europe, maybe comparable to London School of Economics. However, as you mentioned, its MBA programme is quite new and not yet renowned or ranked. Although this MBA programme is quite affordable and strong, it is still lacking its brand name.

Regarding the language I would not worry too much about German, if you wish to work in Switzerland. Switzerland has four different official languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh). Usually English is the official language in corporate companies such as Novartis, UBS, Crédit Suisse.

Cheers

Looks like St.Gallen will get into FT ranking from 2010 and I'm sure it will somewhere in the top league.
On the other hand, There is one more school in Grmany - Mannheim Business School whose reputation in Germam speaking region is very good and this school has some good placements. Anyone has more info on this ? I think William has already spokemn about this school in one of my PM's to him... Let me know if anybody is interested and I shall send Will's reply ...

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Updated on: 13 Jan 2008, 19:33

Here's a post I made in the Europe MBA Discussion thread yesterday:

Diplo wrote:

Judging from a finance and consulting perspective, I would say that St. Gallen is definitely recognized as the best university in German speaking Europe (IMD is in the French part of Switzerland). All top I-Banks recruit there, and if you get good grades you will surely find a job in your desired field (keeping in mind that most European offices actually care about your grades, not just the school you went to).

To reassure you: The university hosts the most prestigious career fairs in German speaking Europe - the Investment Banking Days and the Forum HSG.

Both of these are organized by students - the school is big on extracurricular activities. Plus, the Career Services Center is fantastic.

I have absoluetly no clue why HSG's reputation isn't reflected in the rankings of FT et al., but talk to any recruiters in Switzerland, Germany, or Austria, or look at the number of top managers in these countries who are HSG alumni and you'll see that it's an excellent choice (if not your best bet considering your search criteria). Furthermore, the professors are top notch, most of them are the authors of the most widely used German text books in their fields.

P.S. I remember somebody on the BusinessWeek forum posting about his MBA experience at HSG, I'm sure you can ask him any MBA specific questions you might have. One thing is for sure: the University has an excellent reputation. And if you move to Switzerland you'll save taxes and get a higher salary compared to Germany

One thing I heard is that the MBA classes are slightly secluded from the B.A. and M.A. classes, where the majority of the university's students are. However, in a way this is only right because the M.A. students usually have very little work experience (internships) and the MBA classes are tailored towards people with work experience.

However, this has no effect as far as the reputation or recruting are concerned, those benefits are the same all the way from B.A. to PhD.

FYI there are tons of bankers in Zurich who hardly speak any German. I doubt that it matters much, since English is usually the corporate language.

Originally posted by Diplo on 11 Jan 2008, 09:55.
Last edited by Diplo on 13 Jan 2008, 19:33, edited 1 time in total.

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11 Jan 2008, 15:37

casbroker wrote:

I just found out that I am in at St. Gallen! They don't give you much time to accept so I'll have to do some serious thinking over the next couple of weeks.

casbroker,

congrats! which other schools have you applied? i am applying for the 1 feb deadline to st. gallen. did you visit the school for your interview? anything that you can share about your experiences would be great.

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12 Jan 2008, 22:57

casbroker,

Congrats !!! This is a wonderful news.

Well i had applied in Dec 2nd week and they told me that that admissions committe would meet in 1st week of Feb and they will let me know by Feb 15th. I thought this was primilarly to accomodate all the round 2 applicants? When did you apply and when did you get to know the result ? By the way congratulations once again !
_________________

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13 Jan 2008, 02:48

For those interested in St. Gallen, which of course includes me, it's known that UBS is their primary recruiter.

I've been reading about and trading in the financial markets for some time now, and the financial crisis seems to be getting worse and worse. It's not just limited to America. And now, this weekend I read a story about UBS and how they can't even quantify their exposure to the sub-prime credit crisis and may write down at least $13 billion!!!!

This is not the first time that UBS gets caught with its pants down. But, this is much worse than LTCM. Now, UBS is looking a lot worse than Bear Stearns, Merril Lynch, and Citigroup.

This is just the beginning of the financial systemic crisis, and it bothers me a great deal as I am expecting to begin an MBA next year and go into debt to finance it. What if there's no job following graduation?

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Updated on: 13 Jan 2008, 19:32

What happened at UBS last year is ridiculous. And in the light of recent events in the financial industry I understand your concerns regarding employment options after graduation. But those industry dynamics will hit you no matter if you decide to keep working in finance or go and pursue your MBA.

There's also the scenario of people getting laid off all over the place. In that case, you might wish you had gone to business school to come back into the job market when the skies have (hopefully) cleared.

In any case, here's something that might interest you if your primary concern is UBS. Out of my circle who studied in St. Gallen

2 got a job with Goldman (1 in London, 1 in Zurich)2 got a job with Lehman Brothers in London1 got a job with Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich(and granted, 2 got a job with UBS Investment Bank in Zurich)

I guess you can see where I'm going with this - UBS won't be your only option.

Originally posted by Diplo on 13 Jan 2008, 08:26.
Last edited by Diplo on 13 Jan 2008, 19:32, edited 1 time in total.

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13 Jan 2008, 09:46

Diplo wrote:

In any case, here's something that might interest you if your primary concern is UBS. Out of my circle of friends at uni

2 got a job with Goldman (1 in London, 1 in Zurich)2 got a job with Lehman Brothers in London1 got a job with Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich(and granted, 2 got a job with UBS Investment Bank in Zurich)

I guess you can see where I'm going with this - UBS won't be your only option.

Thanks for the info Diplo. Are you an MBA student at St. Gallen?

I am aware that UBS isn't the only show in town at St. Gallen. As far as your friends working in Zurich, what type of jobs do they have with those banks? Are they in Corporate Finance?

I'd like to work in Sales & Trading or Investment Management. I'm aware that S&T is primarily in London, NYC and Tokyo. But, Investment Management jobs can be found the world over.

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Updated on: 13 Jan 2008, 19:21

trader1 wrote:

Diplo wrote:

In any case, here's something that might interest you if your primary concern is UBS. Out of my circle of friends at uni

2 got a job with Goldman (1 in London, 1 in Zurich)2 got a job with Lehman Brothers in London1 got a job with Credit Suisse First Boston in Zurich(and granted, 2 got a job with UBS Investment Bank in Zurich)

I guess you can see where I'm going with this - UBS won't be your only option.

Thanks for the info Diplo. Are you an MBA student at St. Gallen?

I am aware that UBS isn't the only show in town at St. Gallen. As far as your friends working in Zurich, what type of jobs do they have with those banks? Are they in Corporate Finance?

I'd like to work in Sales & Trading or Investment Management. I'm aware that S&T is primarily in London, NYC and Tokyo. But, Investment Management jobs can be found the world over.

One of the guys who went to UBS works as a Sales Trader in Equity, Warrants and Structured Products. From the top of my head, the others are either M&A or Investment Management.

Originally posted by Diplo on 13 Jan 2008, 13:07.
Last edited by Diplo on 13 Jan 2008, 19:21, edited 1 time in total.

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do you have any idea about consulting jobs after St.Gallen MBA , specially technology ? Can they be found around Zurich,geneva areas ? Also any idea about jobs in Germany - Dusseldorf,Frankfurt etc.

Thanks.

trahul,

there a plenty of opportunities around the major financial centers in these countries. besides what you have mentioned, other major cities to check out are: munich (microsoft, mckinsey), stuttgart (bcg), cologne (bcg). siemens and deutsche telekom have corporate offices in most major cities here in germany as well. sap is in heidelberg (a beautiful town where i used to live).